newsmakers

newsmakers

Woody Allen reiterates support for Polanski

CANNES, France

Woody Allen has restated his support for fellow filmmaker Roman Polanski, who is under house arrest in connection with a 33-year-old sex scandal.

Allen said Polanski “was embarrassed by the whole thing,” “has suffered” and “has paid his dues.” He said Polanski is “an artist and is a nice person” who “did something wrong, and he paid for it.”

Polanski pleaded guilty in 1978 to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. He was taken into custody in September and is currently under house arrest in Gstaad, Switzerland.

Earlier this week, new allegations surfaced when a British actress claimed Polanski had sexually abused her when she was 16. It was not clear whether Allen was aware of the new allegations when he made the remarks in an interview Saturday with France Info radio from the Cannes Film Festival. Allen had previously signed a petition calling for Polanski’s release.

Heaven and Hell’s Ronnie Dio dead at 67

Houston

Ronnie James Dio, whose soaring vocals, poetic lyrics and mythic tales of a never-ending struggle between good and evil broke new ground in heavy metal, died Sunday, according to a statement from his wife and manager. He was 67.

Dio revealed last summer that he was suffering from stomach cancer shortly after wrapping up a tour in Atlantic City, N.J., with the latest incarnation of Black Sabbath, under the name Heaven And Hell.

“Today my heart is broken,” Wendy Dio wrote on the singer’s site, adding he died at 7:45 a.m. “Many, many friends and family were able to say their private goodbyes before he peacefully passed away.

“Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all,” Wendy Dio continued. “We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us ... Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever.”

The statement was confirmed by Los Angeles publicist Maureen O’Connor. Dio was being treated at a Houston hospital, according to his site.

Though Dio had recently undergone his seventh chemotherapy treatment, he was hoping to perform again. Earlier this month, Heaven And Hell canceled its summer tour, but Dio did not view being sidelined as a permanent thing.Cast of ‘Glee’ tours

PHOENIX

School’s out, but the “Glee” kids haven’t stopped believin’.

The cast making up the popular Fox show’s band of singing teens launched its four-city tour Saturday in Phoenix, anxious to bring the theatrics of a major network show to a relatively smaller stage.

While the show’s battling adults, played by Jane Lynch and Matthew Morrison, were not part of the stage production, their absence was filled by taped messages to the audience.

After an opening act by the excellent dance troupe Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, Lynch took to the screens snarling that the night’s entertainment was about to make the audience ill.